


The Day She Helped Him

by Flightless_Bird



Series: The Day She Died [2]
Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: And he can't tie a tie, Desert Bluffs, Everyone is yelling at Kevin, F/M, Fluff, Hints of future romance, Kevin is running late, Kevin is smitten with his intern, Pre-Strex Desert Bluffs, Pre-Strex Kevin, So Vanessa helps him out, cuteness, poor kevin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-14
Updated: 2016-11-14
Packaged: 2018-08-31 01:48:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8558467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flightless_Bird/pseuds/Flightless_Bird
Summary: "Um, Vanessa?""Yeah?" she asked, glancing at him over her shoulder with curious brown eyes.With a sheepish half-smile, he gestured at his collar with one hand. "You wouldn't happen to know how to tie a tie, would you?"





	

**Author's Note:**

> I still love this ship and this idea. This series isn't just about Intern Vanessa, it's about DBCR before StrexCorp took over. I adore the idea that DBCR was a happy little radio station. There will be angst later though, so beware of that. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this little story and please leave a comment if you did! They make my day! :3

Kevin was running late.

  
Kevin never ran late. But when your alarm clock suddenly decides that it was angry with you for not feeding it on time and it never goes off, it is understandable for you to sleep in. It was not, however, understandable for the Voice of Desert Bluffs to miss the beginning of his own show. Which was why he was currently running like a mad man down the sidewalk toward the radio station.

  
Poor Josephine gave a startled squawk as he nearly ran her over on her way out of the grocery store. Her dark eyes flashed and she shot him a glare as he hurried by. "Kevin, what're you—?"

  
"Sorry, Josephine!" he called back between heavy breaths. "Can't talk right now, have a nice day, bye!"

  
Shaking her head, she gathered her shopping bags up and shuffled along down the sidewalk again. A muttered, "crazy radio host" was heard by a few passing people and they too stared in confusion at the very flustered Kevin now running away from them.

  
Bursting through the double doors of DBCR, Kevin stumbled two steps before he came face-to-face with a startled Anne Baker. "Oh gods—!" she stammered out, as she dropped a manila folder and Kevin yelped as he barely managed to halt in front of her. Her hazel eyes flashed. "Kevin, you're late!"

  
"I know!" he returned frantically, hands spread in a _that's why I'm like this_ gesture. "I'm sorry for making you drop your stuff," he added guiltily.

  
"Oh, don't stand here apologizing," she snapped, waving a hand at him. "Get yourself together! You have ten minutes!"

  
"Ten minutes?!"

 

"Yes, ten minutes! Now go!"

  
"Agghh!" Kevin groaned, dodging around the fallen folder and racing away from her down the hall. His shoes pounded against the carpet as he did. Twice, he almost plowed down a Shawn and then he bumped into Station Management's door. An ominous rumble from inside was more than enough to send him stumbling away again. As he ran, his mind spun.

  
Okay, he had ten minutes. There was a side room down this hall. It was the room with the coffeemaker, and kitchen supplies, and he was pretty sure no one would be in there right now. He could run in there, straighten up as fast as possible, then make it back to his recording booth before anyone in Desert Bluffs realized he'd been late. Good. He could do this. He could totally do this.

  
He could see the door, two steps away, one step, the doorknob was in his hand now.

  
He flung it open, dashed inside, and promptly shrieked like a toddler.

  
Because Vanessa was there, a mug of coffee in her hands, and now she screamed too. She jumped, coffee splashing over the side of the mug and onto the floor. "Ouch, oh crap!" she gasped, as it burned her fingers. Holding the mug in one hand, she sucked on her index finger with a wince. Then her brown eyes finally took in the full scene and her jaw dropped. "K—Kevin! What're you doing?"

  
Kevin was frozen in the doorway, yellow eyes wide. Everything he'd been thinking of two seconds ago flew right out of his mind. He was painfully aware of the fact that he was standing there with his shirt halfway unbuttoned and tie undone, and sleeves at uneven lengths. Hey, it wasn't like he'd had much time to put it on once he'd realized how late he was. But now he was looking like that in front of Vanessa, his _new intern_ , his new and kinda-sorta-maybe cute intern.

  
Oh my gods.

  
"I'm late!" he announced, as it was all he could think of to say.

  
Her wide eyes flicked from his face to the V of chest his shirt showed, ink-black against the white fabric. A hint of pink colored her cheeks. "Um, I can see that," she replied slowly. "Do you, uh, need any help?"

  
Kevin fought the butterflies that swirled in his stomach when she looked at him like that. Honestly, he was acting like a foolish little boy in front of a pretty girl. This was ridiculous. "No, no," he hurried to say, as she took a step toward him. "I'm fine, I can handle this."

  
"Oh, okay," she said. She went back to the counter where she'd set down her mug, snagging two paper towels to clean up the mess. There was something like disappointment in her voice.

  
Kevin felt immediately guilty. She just wanted to help and perhaps he was being a bit short with her. He cleared his throat awkwardly. "Thank you, though," he added, as he started working at the buttons of his shirt.

  
Vanessa didn't look at him, but the corner of her mouth curled up and that was enough to send a flutter into his heartbeat. "No problem."

  
Smiling a little, he checked his watch. Six minutes left until the show was scheduled to start. He finished the buttons of his shirt and evened out the sleeves. Fixing the collar, he realized that his tie still hung loose around his neck. Kevin sucked at ties; it took him a long time to get the damn things tied in the morning and he did not have nearly enough time to focus on it. But he wanted to look professional, dammit. His gaze flicked up to Vanessa, then back to his tie, then up to her again. He took a breath. "Um, Vanessa?"

  
"Yeah?" she asked, glancing at him over her shoulder with curious brown eyes.

  
With a sheepish half-smile, he gestured at his collar with one hand. "You wouldn't happen to know how to tie a tie, would you?"

  
Her eyebrows lifted in surprise, then her face brightened. "I do, actually," she chirped. Abandoning the coffee mug, she crossed the room to him and brushed her dark hair back behind her ears. "Hold still."

  
"Okay..." Straightening up, he let his hands fall down to his sides and watched her take both ends of his tie between pale fingers. Muttering a couple things like "okay, now cross this over and through the loop here..." she started to tie it. The quick, efficient way she moved caught him off-guard. "How many times have you done this before?"

  
"I did it for my dad a lot," she answered, brow furrowed as she focused on the task at hand. "He was always in a hurry for work. Though I can't say he's ever been _this_ late before..."

  
"Hey," he said, feigning offense. "I can fire you, you know." She only laughed in response and he found himself smiling at the light in her eyes. Every movement of her fingers had her knuckles grazing his collarbones through the shirt and she had the most adorable habit of biting her lower lip when thinking. Kevin felt guilty for staring, but he stared anyway, simply because he couldn't seem to look anywhere else.

  
"All right, you're all done," she declared, smoothing the tie between her fingers with a proud flourish. One of her hands rested thoughtlessly at his chest, over his heart. Kevin would've been lying if he said he didn't shiver a little.

  
"How do I look?" he asked, half-teasing.

  
She replied without thinking, judging by the way she was still admiring her handiwork with his tie. "Amazing." Then she stilled, a look of realization spreading across her face. A dusting of pink rose in her cheeks.

  
Kevin gave her a shy smile, flattered, and dropped his eyes down to his shoes. "Thanks," he said, softer now. He knew he was blushing, dammit and he blushed ridiculously being what he was; there was probably a weird pinkish glow to his face right now.

  
"You're welcome," she replied, in an equally quiet voice. Maybe she was still embarrassed over the situation, he thought. But then she glanced up at him and their gazes met, and that was not embarrassment in her expression. That was something else. Something that reminded him of attraction. _Gods, Kevin, don't think those things! She's an intern!_

  
But now he was thinking them and her hand was still over his heart. He knew that it was racing, and he knew that she knew it was racing, and there was only so much tension that he could handle in one day. Cautious, his hand edged upward as though to curl over hers. "Vanessa—"

  
"KEVIN! DO YOU PLAN ON MAKING THE WHOLE OF DESERT BLUFFS WAIT HALF AN HOUR FOR YOU?"

  
_That_ was one of the Shawns and Kevin's eyes widened as he realized just how close he was to being really really late. "Oh shit!" he squeaked, jerking away from Vanessa and tripping over himself as he ran out the door. "I'm coming, Shawn! Don't start it without me!" A thought struck him mid-step and he told himself not to do it, but of course he did it anyway. Skidding to a halt in the hallway, he spun around and fell back against the doorway to the break room. Vanessa blinked at him, startled. "Thanks," he managed, putting warmth into his voice.

  
She beamed at him, a delighted glow in her eyes. "No problem," she said.

  
Kevin flashed her a brilliant grin, basking in the way her eyes lit up. Then Shawn yelled a very loud "KEVIN!" and he had to bolt away from the door with a gasp.

  
Oddly enough, even with that rocky start, Kevin was in a good mood for the rest of his show.


End file.
